Decals and labels that use static forces to adhere to surfaces have become popular in recent years. For example, auto repair shops place on windshields static; cling decals to remind the customer of future maintenance requirements. For example, the decal reminds the customer to change the car oil in six months or 3,000 miles. Static cling labels, also known as decals, are advantageous because they are easily printed or written upon and are readily applied, removed and reapplied to smooth surfaces, such as glass.
Static cling labels are difficult to handle because they tend to fold and adhere to surfaces other than the intended application surface. The clinging ability of the labels is highly beneficial when the label is finally applied to a surface. However, this clinging ability renders cumbersome the manufacture, shipping, storage and handling of static cling labels.
For ease of manufacture, shipping, storage, and handling static cling labels have in the past been applied to releasable liners. These non-adhesive liners have a smooth surface, e.g., release coating, to which the static label clings. For ease of handling, individual liners: carry one or just a few static cling labels. These individual assemblies of release liners and static cling labels are typically used in conjunction with direct retail sales of static cling decals. For example, cartoon character static cling decals sold for children are packaged as individual assemblies of liners and decals. The handling of decals is facilitated by the individual release liners.
In contrast to individual assemblies of liners and decals, continuous web release liners are used to carry a large number of static cling labels. Continuous web assemblies of a liner with numerous decals are typically used for static cling labels used by commercial customers. For example, a release liner roll having hundreds of windshield decals may be sold to auto repair shops. Rolled continuous release liners facilitate the manufacture and shipping (but not final handling) of large quantities of static cling labels. The release liner rolls are delivered to a commercial business and mounted on a decal dispenser. The static cling labels are removed from the rolled web liner at the dispenser and manually carried to the surface to which they are to be applied.
The dispensing of static cling labels from a rolled web release liner has problems in the handling of labels removed from the liner and manually carried to the application surface. Once the static cling label is removed from the liner, the label is susceptible to folding, adhering to the person carrying tile label and to clinging to surfaces to which the label contacts. Another problem is that often the person, e.g., auto repairman, applying the static cling works in a dirty environment has dirty hands. When this person removes the static cling label from the release liner, the label is smudged which denigrates the appearance of the label and the ability of the label to cling to the intended application surface. The greater the distance between the static cling label dispenser and the application surface, the more likely it becomes that the static cling label will be smudged, folded or stacked on another surface. Accordingly, there is a long-felt and unsatisfied need for a system that dispenses static cling labels from a continuous web and protects the label as it is carried from the dispenser to the application surface. The invention disclosed here satisfies this need.
The invention is a web assembly comprising a static cling label adhering to an individual release liner and the release liner is itself piggybacked mounted onto a continuous web substrate. The assembly (of label, release liner and web) may be mounted as a roll on a dispenser at a central location. The user of an individual label peels off a release liner section with one or more static cling labels from the rolled web substrate. The release liner protects the label until the label is removed from the liner and attached to the application surface.
In one embodiment the invention comprises a continuous web substrate, a plurality of individual release liners releasably attached to the continuous web, and at least one static cling label attached to each of the plurality of individual release liners.
In another embodiment the invention is a method for dispensing and applying a static cling label stored in an assembly comprising a web substrate carrying a plurality of release liners wherein each release liner supports a static cling label comprising the following steps: (a) peeling from the web substrate combined release liner having mounted thereon at least one static cling label; (b) transporting the combined release liner and at least one static cling label to an application surface on which the static cling label is to be applied; (c) removing a static cling label from the release liner in the vicinity of the application surface; and (d) applying the removed static cling label to the application surface.
This invention is advantageous in combining the benefits provided by a rolled web in the manufacture and storage of large numbers of static cling labels and the benefits that individual sections of release liners provide in handling individual static cling labels. These advantages and others will become apparent in the following detailed description of the invention.